Saturday, November 16, 2013

It's that time of year again. We did our first Santa Paws photo shoot of the season today. At first I thought it was a little early for Christmas pictures, but so many people make elaborate holiday cards these days that this actually is when you need to get started. We had a good day. Photo sessions were booked solid from 10 AM through 3 PM. Only one dog peed on Santa. One more peed on the set. There were no dog fights or ugly incidents. When you're photographing dogs, you can't ask for more than this.

Since we were photographing city dogs today, our subjects tended to be smaller and a bit more upscale than their suburban cousins. Since most of today's dogs were small enough to sit on Santa's lap, we didn't have to worry as much about a dog inadvertently destroying the set. A single Yorkie is a lot easier to photograph than three full grown Rottweilers.

Somebody told me this afternoon that we've been doing these Christmas pet photos for seven years now. You couldn't prove it by me, but it does seem like we've been doing this for a very long time. I'm amazed that all the equipment still works. I hope that nothing self-destructs this season. We've got four more of these events to do before Christmas. My old Norman studio strobes are kind of like vintage Fender tube amplifiers. They just don't make them like this anymore. Hopefully, these trusty tools will keep working forever. I certainly don't want to invest in new studio lighting. I don't even have a studio anymore.

I have a feeling that tomorrow is going to be even busier than today. Since the photo shoot took the entire day, all my normal Saturday errands got postponed. That means there's a lot of shopping that still needs to be done. The dogs are still going to expect a trip to the dog park as well. If there's time, I'd like to get to the gym, even though I feel like I've already been to the gym after a long day of alternately standing and kneeling to find the best angle for the perfect pet portrait.

I don't think I'll have any problems going to sleep tonight. These marathon photo shoots are tiring. The fingers and joints aren't as flexible as they used to be and I don't believe in pain pills. The arthritis isn't going away, but staying active is probably still the best medicine. You've got to keep moving.

About Me

John Sealander received a Bachelor of Architecture and a BA in Art from
The University of Arkansas. His rich and diverse experience includes
working as an architectural designer for Fred Bassetti in Seattle,
producing documentary films for PBS, shooting commercial photography
for True Redd’s “Great Shooting Gallery” in Dallas and teaching writing
courses at SMU’s Academy of Visual Communication. For over 35 years,
John has developed memorable and award winning ads and images for some
of the world’s leading ad agencies and most popular brands. In 1990 he
started Sealander & Company, the Dallas, Texas based production
company and multi-media agency where he continues to develop his ideas
today.